WILKES-BARRE, Penn. - One of two men accused in the stabbing and immolation death of gay porn producer Bryan Kocis on Monday pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after admitting he lied about his whereabouts at the time of the killing.
Joseph Kerekes, at one time Kocis' rival in a bitter contract dispute over popular gay performer Brent Corrigan, told the court he helped commit the crime. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for what prosecutors called one of the most gruesome crimes they've seen.
Kocis' nearly decapitated body, stabbed almost 30 times post-mortem, was discovered in January 2007 in the ashes of his burned home. Investigators arrested Kerekes and his alleged lover, Harlow Cuadra, and charged them with murder in May 2007 after one of Cuadra's publicity photos was found on the charred remains of a computer hard drive among the ashes of Kocis' rural Pennsylvania home.
Even after pleading guilty, Kerekes declined to implicate Cuadra, whose trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 5.
"I absolutely will not testify for the state case against Harlow," he told the court.
He did, however, apologize to Kocis' family, but Kocis' father, at least, seemed unwilling to accept Kerekes' expression of remorse.
"We will never forgive nor will we forget what Mr. Kerekes has done to this family," Michael Kocis said.
With his guilty plea, Kerekes avoided the death penalty. Cuadra still faces a death sentence if he is convicted on the first-degree murder charge for which he will be tried.
